We’re back to the dojo! Cobra Kai 6×01 “Peacetime in the Valley” is a new beginning for everyone in the Valley, but it’s deceptive, like the peace that precedes the storm, since quarrels and old enemies soon appear. Ready?
Here we go!
The Importance of a Name in Cobra Kai 6×01 “Peacetime in the Valley”
After the defeat of Silver and Kreese, in Cobra Kai 6×01 “Peacetime in the Valley” everything seems to be going well for our beloved karatekas. Miguel and Robby manage to overcome their differences in pursuit of the new family that Johnny and Carmen are creating, and although Tory and Sam have been unable to do the same, they are working on it.
For their part, fighting Silver together gave Johnny, Daniel, and Chozen a new perspective and brought them together in a way that none of them expected. The symbiosis between Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang is a fact and seems stronger than ever. However, nothing is what it seems.
When the new dojo rises from the ashes of the fight against Silver, finding a new name for it highlights the problems that continue to exist between Daniel and Johnny – and, frankly, Chozen’s determination to fight for anything, especially what has to do with Miyagi-Do, it doesn’t help much.
Cobra Kai 6×01 “Peacetime in the Valley” made it possible for us to understand both sides of this fight. On the one hand, Daniel – and Chozen – want to preserve Mr. Miyagi’s legacy at all costs. Introducing any variation to what he taught Daniel feels like sacrilege to him, like he’s failing him by letting that legacy, Miyagi’s legacy, transform into something he wouldn’t have wanted and end up disappearing.
On the other hand, Johnny struggles to feel part of the dojo owned by his former enemy. He strives to learn Miyagi-Do but also to feel that neither he nor his students lose Eagle Fang, the essence that makes them different, that makes them who they are.
Johnny doesn’t want to feel like he’s just a sensei who joined Miyagi-Do, all his pride revolts against that. He needs to feel that neither he nor his students are in Miyagi-Do because he has nowhere to go, but that they are part of it.
Balance is Always the Key
And, while both positions are understandable in Cobra Kai 6×01 “Peacetime in the Valley,” we think Johnny is right in this one. If All Valley demonstrated anything, it is that the combination of Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang, between defense and attack, is the key to being able to face any rival, including Cobra Kai.
It was that balance between both disciplines that gave them the pass to the Seikai Taikai and it’s only fair that the new Miyagi-Do honors that. It’s not fair that Chozen and Daniel treat Johnny as if he doesn’t have the right to have an opinion about the dojo and should only accept what they have already established. Combining disciplines is also about senseis putting ego aside and exploring new possibilities.
Therefore, we don’t like too much that Cobra Kai 6×01 “Peacetime in the Valley” has tried to make it seem that Eagle Fang is more Kreese’s legacy than Johnny’s. Yes, Eagle Fang drinks from the teachings that Johnny received from Kreese but Johnny was able to get the best of his teachings and eliminate all the bad to create his own Karate discipline, with the best of Cobra Kai, eliminating the most violent and problematic parts.
That reinvention of Cobra Kai ended up becoming Eagle Fang. So no, Eagle Fang is not part of Kreese’s legacy, it’s pure Johnny. Notwithstanding the above, we liked that, despite everything, the new Miyagi-Do logo included an eagle, in honor of Johnny’s dojo, as a recognition of his legacy and what he brings to the new dojo.
A Plan Destined to Go Wrong in Cobra Kai 6×01 “Peacetime in the Valley”
As for the younger students of the dojo, Robby and Miguel seem to have put all their quarrels behind them in Cobra Kai 6×01 “Peacetime in the Valley,” but Tory and Sam are having a harder time. They ignore each other completely but the tension between them can be cut with a knife.
Having a common goal and fighting, for once, on the same side to achieve it, makes them have a complicity that they didn’t know they could. Both have faced each other on several occasions and that has made them know each other, anticipate each other’s movements, and know how the other thinks.
Until now, they had used that knowledge to confront each other but now they can use it to fight together. And we love it!
Other Stuff in Cobra Kai 6×01 “Peacetime in the Valley”
- We just want to hug Robby.
- We need Kenny to understand that Robby only wants to help him and that there is a place for him in Miyagi-Do.
- Making a plan to try to get Tory and Sam to fix everything between them and when it goes wrong blaming each other is the most sibling thing ever!
- Daniel needs to stop putting Mr. Miyagi on a pedestal and understand that different doesn’t mean worse. We said what we said.
- Amanda is THE BEST.
- We wanted to hug Johnny when he saw his dojo destroyed… for the second time.
- We missed the Cobra Kai-style fights!
- Kreese is back!
Cobra Kai season 6 Part 1 is now streaming on Netflix.
